1st degree murder chgs for Stepmom of 5 yo Anna Celeste Lowe

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=1390511
Stepmom charges upgraded in death of Bossier Parish 5 y.o.
January 25, 2011


OSSIER PARISH, LA (KSLA) - The stepmom of 5-year-old Anna Celeste Lowe now faces 1st degree murder charges, Bossier Parish Sheriff's Investigators said Tuesday.

Catherine Murray Lowe, was first facing a charge of negligent homicide in connection to the death of little Anna Celeste.

In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Bossier deputies say upon investigating events that led up to the child's death it was learned that Catherine Lowe was the only guardian with Anna Celeste at the time of her death.

Bossier investigators say they learned this new information through interviews with Catherine's other children. From those interviews, investigators learned that Murray-Lowe's two biological children were present sometime the day before Anna Celeste died.

Murray-Lowe allegedly followed the 5-year-old into a bathroom at their home. Shortly after, investigators say the children report hearing a loud thump and when they went to see what was going on, they reportedly found Anna Celeste lying on the floor in the bathroom in obvious pain and vomiting.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Anna Celeste's father, 32-year--old Wesley Lowe still faces a negligent homicide charge.

The Bossier Parish kindergartner died January 13 of internal bleeding caused by severe trauma.

Both Catherine and Wesley Lowe are being held at the Bossier Maximum Security Facility in Plain Dealing, Louisiana on $1 million bond each.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20110126/NEWS01/101260327
Stepmother may face the death penalty
Her children are key witnesses
January 26, 2011

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According to the coroner's report, Anna Celeste died as a result of internal bleeding after her stomach was severed from her intestines and her liver was lacerated in two places.

"We do know that Catherine Lowe was the only parent home at the time the injury occurred to Anna Celeste," Bossier Undersheriff Doyle Dempsey said Tuesday. "We do know that this isn't a normal injury by any means. It's something normally seen after a major car wreck, not a slap or from a belt. It was a significant kind of impact to produce the injuries Anna Celeste had."

Catherine Lowe and Anna Celeste's father, Wesley Dwayne Lowe, were arrested Jan. 14 on charges of negligent homicide. Wesley Lowe will continue to be held at Bossier Maximum Security Facility on the negligent homicide charge. He had gained temporary custody of the girl from her biological mother, Jamie Mercer, who lives in West Monroe.

"We know that the father was home between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. the night of the incident and he could have easily seen that his daughter was in serious need of medical attention," Dempsey said. "Because he failed to provide his daughter with the medical care she needed, we are continuing to charge Wesley Lowe with negligent homicide."

Anna Celeste was pronounced dead at WK Pierremont Health Center on Jan. 13. Emergency room staff told Bossier sheriff's investigators that the child was brought to the hospital about 9:30 a.m. Jan. 13 by Catherine and Wesley Lowe and that the time of death was determined to be approximately two hours prior to the child's arrival.

Catherine Lowe has given contradictory statements to investigators on the events that transpired, and Dempsey said she has remained uncooperative with investigators.

"This is a potential death-penalty case although a decision has not yet been made on whether to pursue the death penalty," he said. "Whenever you have the murder of a child that young, or any child, it's always a hard case and you want to get to the bottom of what happened to that child. We'll take it to the grand jury sometime in late March and decide what we want to do from there."
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.ktbs.com/news/26610676/detail.html
Stepmother Charged With Murder In Child's Death
January 25, 2011

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Mrs. Lowe injured the child in a bathroom of the family home week before last, Bossier sheriff's investigators said. She got no help for the child until the next morning, when co-workers at the day care where she worked insisted she do so, Undersheriff Doyle Dempsey said.

"During the long trip home, Catherine Murray (Lowe) stopped at a grocery store in Bossier City, leaving the dying child alone in the vehicle as she went inside to purchase (a sport drink)," Dempsey said at a news conference. "(She) passed several hospitals on the way and made absolutely no attempt to obtain necessary and critical medical attention for the dying child."

Celeste, a kindergarten student in Elm Grove, was dead when she was taken to a hospital week before last.

Investigators have believed from the beginning that Celeste might have survived severe trauma to her abdomen had she gotten medical attention sooner. That's why they arrested her father and step-mother on negligent homicide charges early on.

What they weren't sure of was how those injuries were inflicted and by whom.

Investigators have been keying on Catherine Lowe, who was with Celeste most of the time after she got home from kindergarten on Wednesday, Jan. 12, until she was taken to the hospital well into the next morning.

Dempsey said Mrs. Lowe's two children were home when Celeste was injured. Dempsey said the children told investigators they saw their mother follow Celeste into the bathroom, heard "a very loud thump" and then found Celeste lying on the floor and vomiting.

District Attorney Schuyler Marvin said authorities have confirmed the child's father, Wesley Lowe, was at work in the gas fields at the time.

"The father and mother gave contradictory statements regarding the child's injuries and discounted her continuous vomiting and extreme abdominal pain as something caused by a common stomach virus," Dempsey said.

Authorities say Celeste had started vomiting and was sick when her father came home from work. He went back to work that night and she was still ill when he got home about three o'clock the next morning, authorities said. Later that morning, Mrs. Lowe took Celeste to the day care where she worked, authorities said.

Workers there saw the child was desperately ill and immediately told Mrs. Lowe to take her to the doctor, investigators said.

Celeste was taken home, where her father saw her and she went to the hospital. She had been dead two hours by then, Undersheriff Doyle Dempsey said.
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